Medieval mass trapping of reindeer at the Hardangervidda mountain plateau, South Norway

The south Norwegian mountain plateau Hardangervidda has the largest wild reindeer population in Europe. Bones from archaeological excavations of settlement sites and hunting stations, spanning in time from the Mesolithic to the Middle Ages, indicate that these mountains have been inhabited by reindeer since shortly after deglaciation. A special trapping technique was used in the second half of the 13th century AD, when entire herds were driven into lakes where they were killed by hunters in boats. Dating evidence indicates that this large-scale trapping probably went on for less than 50 years. Hunting stations with remains of stone huts with adjacent middens containing large amounts of reindeer bones have been found at four sites in the northern part of Hardangervidda. Results from field investigations by an interdisciplinary project 2004–2008 studying archaeological, biological and climatic aspects of importance for the understanding of ancient reindeer hunting are now being analyzed. This article presents preliminary results from the archaeological and osteological investigations of one of the hunting stations, Sumtangen at Lake Finnsbergvatn.